Our spring Top Ten Visual Effects & Animation Chart breaks down the leading spots this quarter, starting with The Mill/London’s virtuoso EFX performance for Sony’s “Tumble,” and then weaving its way through stellar efforts from such studios as Charlex, Method, Psyop, Zoic, The Embassy Visual Effects, Aardman Animations, Riot, Brickyard VFX and Asylum. The Chart reflects a diverse mix of disciplines spanning varied forms of animation and effects, as well as a deep Toolbox of technologies and software deployed to make each spot’s vision come to life.
Click Here To Read Visual Effects & Animation: Taking A “Tumble” And One Wild Ride
SHOOT Spring Top 10 Visual Effects & Animation Chart
Title | Visual Effects/Animation | Agency | Production | |
1 | Sony’s | The Mill, London Tom Bussell, VFX supervisor; Ben Turner, VFX supervisor, lead Flame/2D artist; Juan Brockhaus, animation director; Rick Thiele, lead lighting & rendering; Mel Tonkin, lead animator; Paul Wilmot, Flame; Darren Christie, lead Shake artist; Angela Jackson, producer; Miles Petitt, CG studio manager; Aidan Gibbons, Alex Doss, Alex Hammond, Andy Nicholas, Daniel Elloit, Douglas Lassance, Edward Shires; Eva Kuehlmann; Francois Malary; James Spillman; Jason King; Jonathan Vuillemin, Mario Ucci, Oscar Gonzales, Peter Devlin, Richard Costin, Sam Driscoll, Simon Clark, CG team. Toolbox: XSI, Flame, Shake | 180LA | Anonymous Content bicoastal Andrew Douglas, director |
2 | Dodge Journey’s “Road Trip” | Charlex, New York Gong Myung Lee, CG supervisor; Steve Chiarello, sr. producer; Jennifer Scelia, co-producer; Alex Cheparev, lead modeler; Stephen K. Mann, lead character TD; Anthony Tabtong, lead animator; James Fisher, lead lighting TD; Hunkit Ma, modeler; Han-Chin Lee, modeler/texture artist; Carlos Sandoval, texture artist; Andre Stuppert, character TD; John Wilson, senior animator; Jeff Chavez, sr. lighting TD; Quan Tran, Keith McMenamy, John Volney, Luis Cantillo, John Cook, Will Atkin, Cesar Kuriyama, lighting TDs; Jesse Newman, sr. Flame artist; Rob Aiello, sr. Smoke editor. Toolbox: Maya, Digital Fusion, Adobe Photoshop, PF Track, Flame, Smoke | BBDO New York | The Ebeling Group, New York XYZ Studios, Melbourne, Australia Tim Kentley, creative director/director. |
3 | Discovery Channel’s “Boom Dee Ya Da” | Method, Santa Monica Alex Kolasinski, lead 2D VFX artist; Chris Smallfield, Lead 3D VFX artist; Gil Baron, CG technical supervisor; Kyle Obley, Marco Vedrine, Ryan Raith, 2D VFX artists; Felix Urquiza, Matt Longwell, Matt Wheeler, 3D VFX artists; Lisa Houck, executive producer; Helena Lee, Sabrina Elizondo, producers. Toolbox: Maya, Mental Ray, Flame, Shake | 72andSunny, El Segundo, Calif. | Outsider, USA, Santa Monica James Rouse, director |
4 | Haagen-Dazs’ “Opera” | Psyop, New York Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Laurent Ledru, directors; Lucia Grillo, Neysa Horsburgh, executive producers; Michael Neithardt, producer; Andreas Berner, project lead; Henning Koczy, Kitty Lin, Iggy Ayestaran Llovet, Anthony Patti, Jonah Friedman, Pete Hamilton, Jed Mitchell, CG artists; Nick Tanner, Sarah Eim, Flame artists. Toolbox: Maya, Flame | Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco’ | Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Laurent Ledru, directors |
5 | Sears Craftsman Tools’ “Crew Chief” | Zoic Studios, Culver City, Calif. Andrew Orloff, creative director/VFX supervisor/animation director; Chris Jones, creative director; John Shirley, VFX supervisor/compositing supervisor; Michael Capton, Michael Cliett, CG supervisor; Elexis Stearn, Steve Schofield, executive producers; Maya Sanchez, producer. Toolbox: AfterEffects, Flame, Lightwave, Maya | Young & Rubicam, Chicago | Gargantuan, Malibu, Calif. Loni Peristere, director. |
6 | Volkswagen Tiguan’s “Moving City” | The Embassy Visual Effects, Vancouver, B.C. Charlie Bradbury, VFX producer; Winston Helgason, VFX supervisor; Simon van de Lagemaat, Marc Roth, senior CG artists; Tristam Gieni, Dan Prentice, Paul Copeland, Jim Hebb, Adam Marisett, Michael Blackbourn, CG artists; Stephen Pepper, senior compositor; David Casey, compositor ; Ben Miller, roto & prep. Toolbox: Modo, Lightwave, Softimage XSI, Shake | DDB Milan | Parco Film, Milan Andrew Hardaway, director |
7 | McVities Digestives Yog Fruit’s “Serenade” | Aardman Animations, Bristol, U.K. Alan Short, director; Andy Proctor, art director; Tom Downes, technical director; Helen Argo, producer. Toolbox: Maya, Renderman studio, Renderman ProServer, Photoshop, AfterEffects Rushes, London Brian Carbin, visual effects artist; Carl Grinter, producer. Toolbox: Smoke | Publicis, London | Alan Short, director |
8 | Target’s “Liquid Chrome” | Riot, Los Angeles Andrew MacDonald, creative director; Matthew McManus, executive producer; Robert Owens, producer; Andy Lesniak, CG supervisor; Dave Carlson, Steve Toccecelli, Tom MacDougal, Michael Johnson, Bryant Reif, Shu Zuzuki, CG artists; Wensen Ho, Andy Davis, compositors. Toolbox: Realflow, Lightwave, Inferno, proprietary workflow plugin for export meshes from Realflow to Lightwave | Target In-House | Untitled, Los Angeles Tom and Jeff Cronenweth, directors |
9 | Orkin’s “Pizza Delivery” | Brickyard VFX, Santa Monica Mandy Sorenson, CG creative supervisor/lead 2D artist; Kirsten Andersen, executive producer; Diana Young, VFX producer. Toolbox: FlameStan Winston Studio, Van Nuys, Calif.J. Alan Scott, animatronics effects supervisor | The Richards Group, Dallas | Bob Industries, Santa Monica Zach Math, director |
10 | Snapple Antioxidant Water’s “Bubble Wrap World” | Asylum, Santa Monica Paul O’Shea, VFX supervisor/Inferno artist/compositor; Michael Pardee, executive producer; Michael Hanley, bidding producer; Darcie Muangman, producer; Jeff Werner, on-set VFX producer; Justin Blaustein, Joey Brattesani, Inferno artists/compositors; Tim Clark, Shannon Burkley, Dark Hoffman, matte painters/texture.Toolbox: Inferno, matte painting | Cliff Freeman and Partners, New York | Daniel Benmayor, director. |
Click Here To Read Visual Effects & Animation: Taking A “Tumble” And One Wild Ride
